Project e-Tip: Trust the Terrain

February 11th, 2004 by Hal

This e-Tip encourages us to not get too attached to our plans. Have a read…

The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week

021: When in Doubt, Trust the Terrain

This might come from the Swiss Army Survival Guide. "When lost in the woods, if the map doesn't agree with the terrain, in all cases believe
the terrain."

A project plan, an executive's vision, and the team members' perspective
all tend to be based on how things ought to be or were supposed to be.
That's the map. The terrain is what is important to the success of the project. You can't manage from the map. You have to get grounded and manage from the terrain. That means deeply understanding:

the project's objectives and obstacles,
what has really been accomplished and what needs to be done (whether the project plan reflects it or not),
the project members' motivations,
the organization's values, and
what we personally are capable of and interested in achieving.

Why spend a lot of energy pretending that a map is valid when we know
that it isn't? As innovators in project management we need to look for
the realities of the people, the organization, the project, and
ourselves to be successful. When the map becomes more important than the
terrain, we aren't helping anyone.

Dennis Stevens, Knowledge in Process, is on a roll. Another Project e-Tip is in the works!

How about some good advice from others? Write me.

10th Project e-Tip of the Week

Produce Alignment and Trust in the Stories You Tell

Project e-Tip: Expectations Breed Results

Shift Good Intentions into Commitments

Trust Is Crucial in Project Coordination

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4 Responses to “Project e-Tip: Trust the Terrain”

David Schmaltz Says:
February 12th, 2004 at 5:44 pm
… ’scuse me, but a small additional thought bubbles up here:

We more easily share our maps than we do our territory. We can get agreement that this document represents our map, because it physically represents, more easily than we can get agreement on territory. This sounds backwards, but it smells true.

We plan together, not to create a perfect map, but to create a common understanding of shared territory. This understanding, which no map can represent, becomes the most useful artifact of any planning. The understanding includes the doubts as well as the certainties, and the unspeakable connections connecting us together. david
Glen B. Alleman Says:
February 12th, 2004 at 6:56 pm
The �trust� the territory analogy is being wrongly applied. The Swiss Army advice is not to trust the territory over the map, but to recognize that when they don�t match, start with the territory before proceeding to rely on the map. Once you�ve reestablished contact between territory and map, you can proceed.

Having spent a few hours flying over enemy territory as an uninvited visitor, with a map in hand (actually in the computer navigation system), I can speak about maps and territories.

If you look at the map and then look outside the cockpit or down the hiking trail and there is no match, then certainly the territory speaks more of where you are then the map.
The next thing to do is look around on the map for a similar set of territory to �get your bearings.� The map will then tell you the obstacles in the way of your goal, the effort needed to achieve the goal � reaching the parking lot or reaching the deck of the carrier.

Either way the map is a critical tool, without the map you’re likely to be permanetly lost or have a long walk home.

As well if your in a fog, then a map and compass � once you�ve established you location � will likely save you life.
Paulo Napolitano Says:
February 12th, 2004 at 10:10 pm
Glen

Now I see how simple things can save our lives.
Our problem is that when we are managing projects we are not flying over enemy territory as an uninvited visitor and we became blind to follow simple procedures.
We don’t have enemies in PM. They are not there when we begin a project but they emerge as a result of our complexity to make things simple.
You could write more about how did you manage complex situations during the war. I think that we will see simple solutions working in life or death situations.
Paulo Napolitano Says:
February 12th, 2004 at 10:30 pm
Frank

Projects are processes and being processes they are not finished untill the complete product is produced.
In projects we don�t have a territory yet. It emerges as we follow the map. They are codependents one modifying another and vice versa. We need to trust both at the same time and balance them.
Trust one or another under my point of view does not work in PM.

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